MAPIFolder.FullFolderPath fails on shared mailbox folder until accessed by Outlook manually

[Jeff]

I'm working with Outlook 2003.

I've created a tree control using Outlook and Redemption COM objects
manipulated via C#. The tree control is an attempt to clone the tree
control as seen in the Select Folder(s) dialog in Outlook. My clone
uses the MAPIFolder.FullFolderPath property to keep track of the tree
structure.

It works reasonably well while browsing my inbox and Exchange public
folders. It does NOT work when displaying the contents of a shared
mailbox.

The FullFolderPath property fails on folders in a shared mailbox until
I manually go into Outlook 2003, open the Folder List view, browse to
the shared mailbox, and expand the folder tree of that mailbox to the
folder that I'm trying to browse to in my clone. After I do that, I can
use my tree control to browse to the folder in the shared mailbox and
the FullFolderPath property does not fail.

I assume this is caused by Outlook being lazy about when it reads the
contents of the shared mailbox folder structure.

Any ideas or comments on this behavior?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Try accessing not only that store but also folders in it to try to get it
fully opened before you try to access the paths for your code. It also works
much better if the delegate mailbox is opened as part of your Outlook
profile and not from File, Open.